Attitudes towards and assessment of spoken interaction in the primary English classroom

• Autor(a) principal: Pereira, Mónica Teresa Barros Gomes da Silva Cunha de Campos
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10362/132080
• topic: Ensino de Inglês; 1º Ciclo; Primary English classroom; Structured assessment tasks; Feedback; Formative assessment; Language progress; Spoken interaction; Young learners; Avaliação formativa; Avaliação de tarefas estruturadas interativas; Interação oral; Progresso na aprendizagem da língua estrangeira; Aulas de inglês do ensino primário; Feedback; Jovens aprendizes; Domínio/Área Científica::Humanidades::Línguas e Literaturas; Domínio/Área Científica::Ciências Sociais::Ciências da Educação

This report describes the action research project I engaged in as part of my practicum as a trainee teacher during my master´s degree in teaching English in primary education. It investigated how I could assess spoken interaction during structured assessment tasks and what the influence of young learners’ attitudes is on spoken interaction. The research took place in a private primary school in a town near Lisbon, Portugal. This study involved a group of 22 young learners in year four, eleven girls and eleven boys, aged between 9 and 10 years who had two weekly 60 minute classes of English during the afternoon. The study was implemented from mid-September 2020 to mid-December 2020, the main aim was to study how to formatively assess spoken interaction and what the influence of young learners’ attitudes was on spoken interaction. The method chosen was a small scale action research project. The research tools used were an observation grid, the use of a teacher’s journal and questionnaires to the young learners. The study concluded that to formatively assess spoken interaction an observation grid is justified, and that the contribution of peer feedback contributed to the progress of young learner’s language learning. Furthermore, it was observed that formatively assessing contributes to having less anxious young learners during assessment moments. There was also evidence that indicated the importance of collaborative peer work for young learner’s language learning progress. Throughout the action research, it became evident that young learners who demonstrated positive attitudes towards spoken interaction structured assessment tasks progressed in language learning.